On Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26, EU heads of state and government met in Brussels for a summit partly dedicated to immigration, as 100,000 people have entered Europe via the Mediterranean and Turkey since the beginning of the year. Proposed by the European Commission, the principle of allocating refugees by country quotas is strongly contested by some states.
Since 2000, more than 29,000 migrants have died while attempting to reach Europe. The data and stories of these people are systematically collected by the European journalistic project The Migrants’ Files. Based on the data collected by this observatory, the journalism agency Journalism++ has created this interactive map, which shows where incidents in which migrants lost their lives occurred over the past 15 years. The larger the circle, the higher the number of deaths.
The region of Europe where most of the deaths are concentrated is the Sicily Channel. Many tragedies have also occurred near the Spanish border (Canary Islands and near the Strait of Gibraltar) and in Greece. Most incidents have occurred at sea or along the coast. A record number of 137,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean in perilous conditions during the first half of 2015, mostly to flee conflicts, an 83% increase compared to the first half of 2014, the United Nations indicated on Wednesday.
Migrants in Ventimiglia
The situation is expected to worsen during the summer, when clandestine smugglers intensify their activities: the number of migrants in the Mediterranean rose from 75,000 in the first half of 2014 to 219,000 by the end of the year, according to the United Nations refugee agency. At the mercy of smugglers, most migrants make this crossing on makeshift boats.
“Europe is facing a sea-borne refugee crisis of historic proportions,” warns the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), stating that the vast majority of these migrants and refugees are fleeing wars, conflicts, and persecution.
Protection from War and Persecution
“Most people arriving by sea in Europe are refugees seeking protection from war and persecution,” emphasized UNHCR head Antonio Guterres in a statement.
A third of the men, women, and children who reached Greece or Italy by sea this year are from Syria, a country ravaged by war since 2011. People fleeing ongoing violence in Afghanistan and the repressive regime in Eritrea account for 12% of arrivals, according to the UNHCR report. Somalia, Nigeria, Iraq, and Sudan are the other main countries of origin for migrants.
